I turned 50 in September. A few years ago, I had a hysterectomy but lately I have noticed a few changes. For example - I am sweating more and I seem to have become far more emotional. I have no interest in sex with my husband and I feel constantly exhausted all of the time. Can you please advise me?

Having a hysterectomy can give rise to symptoms very similar to menopause ones, such as hot flushes, fatigue, joint pain, low mood etc.

I am not sure if you have had a partial hysterectomy, or a full one. When your ovaries are left, you tend to have the menopause at roughly the same time you would have done had you not had the operation.

The average age is 45-55, although a few women do start earlier - especially if other close female relatives started around the same age.

When you have a total hysterectomy, you are plunged straight into the full menopause and that is why you are usually offered HRT. You cannot then go on to have another menopause later on.

However, your symptoms can also be caused by other factors such as stress, low iron, low thyroid, or low vitamin D so I would ask your doctor to test for these just to rule them out.

If stress is an issue then taking a magnesium tonic such as Floradix, and a stress remedy, such as AvenaCalm, may help.

In the meantime, it may be a good idea to take a good female multi-vitamin complex with extra magnesium, such as Menopause Support.

You can take this alongside a vitamin B Complex to help support your nervous system just now as it is likely to be under a lot of pressure with all the hormonal changes going on.

Eileen Durward